Michael McCorkell

'Colonel Sir Michael McCorkell, KCVO, OBE, TD, JP, DL (3 May 1925 - 13 November 2006) was an Northern Irish soldier and British public servant, emulating the high level of British public service of successive generations of the McCorkell family, being Lord Lieutenant of County Londonderry for 25 years.^[1] His Uncle, Sir Dudley McCorkell, had also been Lord Lieutenant of County Londonderry.

McCorkell was the son of Capt. B. F. McCorkell, of Templeard, Culmore, County Londonderry. He was born in Buncrana, Inishowen, County Donegal, in 1925 and was educated at Aldenham School, before the outbreak of World War II and the curtailment of travel caused him to finish his education at Campbell College.

Career

During the war, he served with the 16/5 Lancers (1943–1947). In 1943, he went straight from Royal Military Academy Sandhurst to Italy, landing on his nineteenth birthday. Commanding a tank troop, he fought from Monte Cassino all the way up through Italy. His unit was one of the first into Venice. He was in Austria when the war ended and, as victors in Europe these were heady times for a young soldier. He shot chamois on Göring's mountain estate in Austria (the heads of the chamois were fine ones because the Luftwaffe had dropped hay to the beasts on the hill) and he kept the mess in trout with regular forays to the Alpine streams and lakes; and cavalrymen were in their element here, with the pick of the liberated Austrian and German horse flesh at the allies’ disposal. McCorkell was involved in two enormous tattoos at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna and at the Olympiastadion (Olympic Stadium) in Berlin, where he and others performed cavalry trick rides.

He was a Major in the Territorial Army and North Irish Horse (1951). His long involvement with the North Irish Horse had already seen him commanding it in the 1960s and, without hesitation, he became T & AVR Colonel, Northern Ireland, in 1971-1974, Aide-de-camp to Queen Elizabeth II (1972), Brevet Colonel (1974), Honorary Colonel of the North Irish Horse in 1975 and President of the T & AVR, Northern Ireland in 1977.

As a devout Christian, and a wholly ecumenical one, McCorkell served all sides of the community, during some of the county's toughest times, without prejudice or favour, offering support or sympathy, but never doctrine: he was genuinely and wholly non-political as Lord Lieutenant of the County of Londonderry from 1975-2000. He was made High Sheriff of County Londonderry from 1961 and, like many of his ancestors before him, Deputy Lieutenant for the City of Londonderry from 1962; Justice of the Peace from 1980. He was appointed TD in 1954; OBE in 1964 and knighted with the KCVO, 1994, an honour in the very personal gift of Queen Elizabeth II . Like his uncle, Sir Dudley, he served on the Harbour Board Commissioners and as Chairmen of Wm. McCorkell,^[2] who operated the McCorkell Line from 1778. Away from his hectic public life, at the family home at Ballyarnett, he built up a pedigree Jersey dairy herd. As an enthusiastic horseman, he whipped in for many years to the Strabane Hounds and in later life, he spent much of his time snipe shooting in County Fermanagh and fishing in County Donegal.

Family

In 1950 he married Aileen Allen,^[3][4] Lady McCorkell OBE, daughter of Lieut-Colonel E.B. Booth,^[5] DSO, of Darver Castle, Dundalk, County Louth, by whom he had 3 sons (John Barry Ernest, David William^[6][7] and Barry Michael^[8]) and 1 daughter (Mary Aileen). He was rightly proud of her own achievements, Lady McCorkell founded the Derry Red Cross during The Troubles.^[9] He was a nephew of Sir Dudley McCorkell and Ronald Colville, Lord Clydesmuir, was his brother-in-law. The McCorkell's, who are originally from Scotland, are from the Clan McCorquodale and are a sept of Clan Gunn. Upon his death, aged 81, a Memorial service was held in St. Columb's Cathedral, Derry.^[10]

References

1. ^ http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page2809
2. ^ McCorkell Line
3. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8260583/Lady-McCorkell.html Lady McCorkell
4. ^ http://thepeerage.com/p30144.htm#i301438
5. ^ http://thepeerage.com/p24266.htm#i242659
6. ^ http://thepeerage.com/p40165.htm#i401650
7. ^ http://www.brewindolphinholdings.co.uk/brw/investor/corpgov/board/ Brewin Dolphin
8. ^ http://www.aubreycapitalmanagement.com/people.php
9. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8260583/Lady-McCorkell.html Lady McCorkell
10. ^ nio.gov.uk

External links

• Lady McCorkell's Obituary
• Family tree
• The McCorkell Shipping Line
• [1]
• Burkes Peerage
• Major McCorkell & B Sqn, 50th Anniversary Re-dedication of the Regiment

Honorary titles
Preceded by Sir Henry Mulholland, Bt	Lord Lieutenant of County Londonderry 1975–2000	Succeeded by Denis Desmond

Persondata
Name	Maccorkell, Michael
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	3 May 1925
Place of birth
Date of death	2004
Place of death